Saturday, August 29, 2015

(BUSINESS
WIRE)-- Panasonic Corporation announced that Montfort College of
Thailand won the Grand Prix for its video "Blind's Diary" in the
Panasonic Kid Witness News (KWN) Global Contest 2015. The students from
Montfort College were honored at the awards ceremony held in Singapore
on August 26. Students from other finalist schools also attended the
ceremony, where they were recognized with category awards, including
"Best Concept."

[Flash Report] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPPYBZ7rjXQ

The
seven finalist videos focused on topics ranging from impact and
interactions through social media, earthquake disasters, to interactions
with family members and others. The Grand Prix winning video, which is
based on a true story, portrays a visually impaired girl who attends a
regular school. While worrying about burdening other students, she
overcomes her struggles at school and eventually accepts her situation,
which enables her to achieve academic results with her friends’ support.
The video conveys a strong message of mutual support to achieve dreams
in a diverse society.

KWN is a hands-on video education program
that Panasonic operates as part of its efforts to support education. The
company lends video cameras and other production equipment to
elementary and middle schools participating in the program. Currently,
some 5,000 children and teachers around the world are taking part in the
program. Since the program began in the United States in 1989, more
than 175,000 children have participated.

2015 marks the first
time KWN Global Contest Awards Ceremony is held in Southeast Asia. The
event, which coincides with Singapore’s 50th anniversary of its
independence, was attended by Mr. Toru Nishida, Managing Director,
Panasonic Asia Pacific, as well as dignitaries including Mr. Hawazi
Daipi, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Education and
Ministry of Manpower of Singapore; Mr. Ng Ser Miang, member of the
International Olympic Committee and Chairman of the Finance Commission;
Mr. Duane Kale, Governing Board Member, the International Paralympic
Committee; and Mr. Mark Wallace, Head of Production, the Olympic
Broadcasting Services

From this year’s application, Panasonic, an
Official Worldwide Olympic partner and an Official worldwide Paralympic
Partner, will add "sports" to the list of themes of KWN Global Contest,
in addition to the existing themes of “ecology” and “communication,” to
stimulate children’s interest in sports. The KWN program honors the
video works created by children every year. To produce videos, students
choose a theme on their own and then handle all aspects of video-making,
from planning and scripting to filming and editing. This year, 553
schools from 19 countries and regions participate in this program. For
this KWN Global Contest 2015, the schools submitted five-minute videos
themed about either ecology or communication.

This year's Grand
Prize winner and the other finalists’ videos can be viewed on the
following websites: - KWN Global Contest 2015:
http://www.panasonic.com/global/corporate/kwn/contest2015/

■ Summary of the seven award-winning videos

(Listed by country in alphabetical order)

Prize

Country/Name of School Video Title Theme Category/Synopsis

Grand Prix & Best Concept

[Thailand] Montfort College Communication:

A
visually impaired girl attends a non-special-needs school and, while
worrying about burdening other students, she overcomes struggles at
school and eventually accepts herself and achieves academic results with
her friends’ support. Blind's Diary

Best Storytelling

[China] Beijing Haidian Wanquan Primary School Communication:

A
girl, who lost her mother, lives with her father, stepmother and
stepsister. She feels she doesn’t belong to the family as no one
celebrates her birthday. The video appeals the importance of providing
children with love and affection of the family. Happy Birthday

Best Witness

[Germany] Secondary School Isernhagen Communication:

This
documentary focusing on a traveling circus family shows their unique
lifestyle, different from that of ordinary people, through daily lives
of circus performers and their children, and backstage scenes. Living Differently - Circus Mulan

Global Citizen

[Japan]

Nakoso 1st

Junior High School Communication:

Fukushima
is still under the influence of Great East Japan Earthquake that hit
the area four years ago. Middle school students in the region learn the
importance of connecting with others through participation in a charity
relay marathon in Tokyo and activities to support Fukushima. Run! Nako-ichi Run!...

A
teenage girl gradually gets addicted to taking selfies with her mobile
phone, spending many hours every day. That leads to a drastic change in
her personality, then results in an incident. The video conveys a
message that you should accept the way you are, not how you look in
photos. JUST CLICK IT

Creative Media

[Singapore] Clementi Town Secondary School Communication:

The
video shows interviews with students and college professors, exploring
how people perceive their self-worth through their persona on social
media. It warns against putting too much focus on social media. The
video combines animation and live action. Social ME-dia

Best Editing

[United States of America] Val Verde High School Communication:

A
teenage girl goes through a mysterious experience while falling in love
with a boy whom she met through SNS. The video brings awareness to the
dangers of friendship social networking sites, with which many teenagers
are obsessed. FACE TO FACE

■ About Panasonic
Kid Witness News KWN got its start in 1989 in the U.S. as a hands-on
video education program supported by Panasonic North America, which
supplied video cameras and editing equipment to public elementary and
middle schools to make news programs from the perspective of children.
The program was subsequently expanded on a global scale. This year, 553
schools from 19 countries and regions participate in the program.

KWN
is designed to foster creativity and presentation skills among young
students. Supervising teachers cite further merits of the program such
as a heightened awareness of the environment and the community as well
as development of team skills among participants through the process of
creating videos. The global network of KWN schools also provides a
platform for international exchange among KWN students.

About
Panasonic Panasonic Corporation is a worldwide leader in the
development of diverse electronics technologies and solutions for
customers in the consumer electronics, housing, automotive, enterprise
solutions and device industries. Since its founding in 1918, the company
has expanded globally and now operates 468 subsidiaries and 94
associated companies worldwide, recording consolidated net sales of
7.715 trillion yen for the year ended March 31, 2015. Committed to
pursuing new value through innovation across divisional lines, the
company uses its technologies to create a better life and a better world
for its customers. To learn more about Panasonic:
http://www.panasonic.com/global